twilight – Colleen Keller Breuning

Shades of Blue and Black

Shades of Blue and Black

Twilight descends in moonlit skies,
red sun fading before my eyes.
Sad memories come flooding back
in mottled shades of blue and black.

Hurtful words dredging up my fears
I bury the pain, hide the tears.
Bruised and broken, panic attack
with mottled shades of blue and black.

But time is a balm, healing starts
in vernal wellsprings of my heart.
Deep wounds are healing, turning back
to mottled shades of blue and black.

Twilight descends in starlit skies
of mottled shades of blue and black.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2024
May 11, 2024

Happy Early Mother’s Day! I hope each of you gets a chance to celebrate your Mom, I am very blessed to have my Mom still with us. We didn’t make any formal plans for a Mother’s Day celebration, but my sister and I decided last minute to coordinate times of our visit to her house tomorrow. We will bring salad, cupcakes and order pizza for linner (late lunch/early dinner).

Since it was Writer’s Choice Week, I just did this off the top of my head this morning. The phrase “vernal wellsprings of my heart” just popped into my head a few weeks ago and fortunately, I actually wrote it down. (Need to do that more often, but often get distracted and forget!) I stumbled on the line this morning and decided to build a Kyrielle Sonnet around that (with a slight tweak to the beginning word of the refraining line, haha!). This sonnet just sort of reflects the rainy and dreary weather of late, and also speaks to the effect PTSD that can happen in life. I think many of us have endured some type of trauma(s) at some point in our lives. Those who know me well, know I’ve been through some traumas in my life that I thought I’d never overcome, but struggled through. Even though one survives it, sometimes certain memories are randomly triggered. It creeps back in and can haunt you. Add that on top of anxiety, and voila! You have a recipe for panic attacks. Writing, music and family/friends’ support has been a godsend in helping me heal and thrive. So if you are part of my inner circle who knows what I’m talking about … know that I am blessed, forever grateful you’re in my life, and that I love you so much!

Have a great weekend, and Happy Mother’s Day to all!

Xoxo,
Colleen

Mood: Anxious
Inspiration: “Sotto Falso Nome” by Ludovico Einaudi

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 45.15 – WRITER’S CHOICE – Shades of Blue and Black
Hard Bonus: WRITER’S CHOICE – Incorporate moonlit skies
Easy Bonus: WRITER’S CHOICE – Use the word “vernal”

A Wish for April

A Wish for April

When twilight comes knocking on winter’s door;
The dusk beckons with its deep purple skies.
Distant stars burgeon with flaming ardour,
The woods come to life in glow of moonrise.

Faeries dance underneath the pale moon’s light;
Gold and peach, a daffodil pas de deux.
Sweet melody of flutes colors the night,
In soft tapestry of jewel tones and hues.

My heart is weary as the night grows long,
So I close my tired eyes and kneel in prayer.
I take comfort in the nightingale’s song,
A sense of hope fills the early spring air.

Awakened from my dreams, I count to ten,
And I am wishing for April again.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2024
March 23, 2024

It’s Saturday again, and I’m not sure exactly where this sonnet came from. Let’s just call it sheer luck, haha! I have been piecing together lines for the last few days, and the poem turned out much differently than how it started. Sometimes phrases just pop into my head, and I have to jot them down quickly, lest I forget. Some lines come to me, but don’t fit into the current poem. They get tossed into my random line pages for using another time. This is just a little whimsical ditty about dreaming of the magic of spring, and the dancing of the flowers (faeries) under the moon.

Yes, spring officially came this week, but it doesn’t seem like it. Today was a dreary, rainy, cold and extremely windy day. We get a wicked west wind that rushes down the street and hits the front of our house dead on. This afternoon when I stepped out in the yard, it felt like hurricane force winds! My poor daffodils and jonquils were bending and brushing the ground – fortunately, they are quite resilient! I guess I’m just wishing for April to get here, as March has never been my favorite month. It’s a most impatient month, even worse than January when you are sort of resigned to it being winter. Right now it is too cold to wear sandals, and even I (who rarely complains about cold weather) am ready to pack away my cable knit sweaters until fall! Only 9 more days….

Until then, I wish you warmth, peace and love!

Xoxo,

Colleen

Mood: Whimsy
Inspiration: “The Four Seasons – Spring” by Vivaldi

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 38.15 – Sheer Luck
Hard Bonus: Incorporate a song title by Dean Martin (“Deep Purple,” “Dream” & “April Again”)
Easy Bonus: Reference faeries

Blessed

Blessed

the hive is buzzing
wafting with delicious scents
honey and spices

days of preparing
to gather at the table
with dear family

laughter and music
turkey, stuffing, all the sides
candlelight dining

sun fades to twilight
and the pull of home is strong
quiet peace descends

sipping cabernet
cuddling by the fire with cats
knowing we are blessed

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2023
November 24, 2023

Happy Black Friday, all! No mall shopping for this chick today…I avoid going out shopping on this day LOL!! It’s kind of sad especially to see the demise of traditional malls, but the only shopping I did today was ONLINE. I just can’t tolerate the crowds and insanity anymore. Plus you can save time and get the same deals online, so….. easy decision.

I wrote this in the quiet aftermath after hosting Thanksgiving Dinner for my family yesterday here in Virginia. There were only 10 of us, but I prepared two turkeys (40 lbs of turkey on sale for a total of $15 – SCORE!), mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn pudding, pumpkin pies, chocolate chip cookies and a homemade cheeseball. I had quite a few appetizers out, including the cheeseball with crackers, veggie tray, fruit, chips, salsa & queso dip. I’m never sure exactly what time the main dinner will be served. I aim for 3 pm, but there’s always last minute potato peeling & mashing, and of course the master Colleen gravy recipe that must be perfected before serving! I am grateful to my family for bringing some side dishes and helping with the peeling and preparation, and especially for assisting Dan and me in the cleanup!

It was a beautiful, crisp autumn day and I’m so happy my Mom, my sister Sarah and her family and my brother Doug and his girlfriend were able to join us! We had so much fun reliving memories, listening to music and just being together. We were missing my sister Barb and hubby Al, and brother Mark and wife Wendy. Everyone is so busy with life, and it’s very hard to get all of us together in one place these days. But I am truly blessed and feeling at peace today.

This afternoon’s goal was to take down all of my autumn decorations. Dan and I got it all done in less than two hours. We are scaling back on the Christmas decorating this year, because we are planning to travel to Florida to visit both of our kids for Christmas. We are looking forward to that, especially spending time with the grandkids and seeing them on Christmas morning! I can hardly wait to see their excited little faces as they open their gifts. There’s something so magical seeing Christmas through a child’s eyes, it makes me tear up thinking about it. I’ll miss having the house fully decked out, but it doesn’t make sense to put in all that effort since we won’t be here for about 11 days. And it’ll make my life a LOT easier in January, undecorating for Christmas is soooo depressing!

I hope you had a beautiful, peaceful Thanksgiving, and I’m wishing you a December full of joyous holidays, whatever you celebrate.

Xoxo,
Colleen ❤

Mood: Content
Inspiration: “Last Train Home” by Pat Metheny Group

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 21.15 – Blessed/WRITER’S CHOICE!!!
Hard Bonus: WRITER’S CHOICE – Write a haiku
Easy Bonus: WRITER’S CHOICE – Include a hive

Beneath the Moonlight

Beneath the Moonlight

On the clouds of sound
I drift into the night
the sun takes its bow
and fades into twilight

Can I whisper to the wind
reveal my deepest secrets
and dance beneath the moonlight
with you, my love…

The lake is thrumming
a bangarang of song
the crickets and the frogs
they frolic all night long

Can I catch a shooting star
the fiery glow between us
and kiss beneath the moonlight
with you, my love…

Night unfolds its glory
connections running deep
we count the distant stars
and tumble into sleep

Now the morning bright blue cold
is where I want to wallow
and steal away the moonlight
with you, my love….

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2023
July 15, 2023

Dedicated to my man Dan on this beautiful summer night… ❤

Happy Saturday! This poem was inspired by the song “Birds,” written and sung by the delightful Emiliana Torrini. I just discovered her music in the past year, and she has a lovely voice. One of my favorite things to do is to take a song and write my own lyrics to it, following the rhythm and ambience of the music. This helps me narrow my creative focus, and even take my poetry in a different direction. The above poem is the result, and I’m happy with the results. Plus it is soooo much fun! I have posted the video of the song below. Give it a listen – I hope you will enjoy her music!

Not much else going on here. The heat has been intense, haven’t been able to get out for an evening run this week due to the storms and heat. I’m hoping to be able to get out there one of these nights. Today we drove up to Maryland to visit Mom and celebrate her 86^th birthday! We picked up food, sang Happy Birthday, had cupcakes and chatted. We weren’t able to go up this past Thursday as I have been juggling multiple work deadlines. It was wonderful to see her, she is really doing well. Her mind is razor sharp and she moves around really well for her age! 🙂

On our agenda next week is having the interior of our home painted in the front entry way, upstairs halls and kitchen. It has been that horrible cheap, chalky white builder’s grade paint that we have not gotten around to painting even though we’ve now been here for ELEVEN years LOL!!! It is way too large of a job for us to tackle ourselves. Our entryway is two stories high, and we don’t have the equipment for that. So everything has to come down off the many walls and from the soffits of our kitchen cabinets. The last time I painted was about ten years ago when I tackled our morning room – I wrenched my neck from that job. I guess my body is getting too old for that sort of thing, even though I have no problems with daily workouts. I think it’s the strain on the back and neck from painting that really gets me!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and that next week is a wonderful one for you!

xoxo Colleen

Mood: Joyous
Inspiration: “Birds” by Emiliana Torrini

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 2.15 – Connectedness
Hard Bonus: Incorporate a lyric by Steppenwolf (“On clouds of sound I drift in the night”; “Now the morning bright blue cold”)
Easy Bonus: Use the word “bangarang”

Weightless

Weightless

Twilight calling
scent of jasmine in the air
starlight falling
silver strands upon my hair.

You take my hand
pull me close against your chest
love is dawning
my fretful spirit cannot rest.

See the ambient moon rising
high up in the night
and my heart aches for freedom
to dance in the amber light
to spread my wings and take flight
holding on
until dawn
when we rise with the sun
breathe in the fresh air
floating on the clouds without a care.

And I’m weightless…
weightless in your arms
weightless in your arms
shelter me from harm.

Venus shining
passion puts us in a trance
swaying to and fro
captivated by romance.

Evening is long
filled with the mockingbird’s song
tender lips graze
wash away the tears and wrongs.

See the ambient moon rising
high up in the night
and my heart aches for freedom
to dance in the amber light
to spread my wings and take flight
holding on
until dawn
when we rise with the sun
breathe in the fresh air
floating on the clouds without a care.

And I’m weightless…
weightless in your arms
weightless in your arms
shelter me from harm.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2022
May 21, 2022

It’s been a very long time since I have written. Lots of things were keeping me in a writer’s block of sorts the past few months …. a new job, busy tax season, the sudden death of Dan’s brother, dealing with grief and other life changes. As a result, I got out of the habit of keeping true to my Friday morning writing schedule. I really miss our Blogophilia group, that kept me on track. I miss our interactions and find myself on social media a lot less these days. I hope to get back to my writing weekly, even if it’s a simple haiku.

Here’s a little song, lighter than what I’ve been feeling lately. Here’s to love….

xoxo Colleen

Inspiration: “Serenade” by Emiliana Torrini
Mood: Wistful

Velvet Whispers

Velvet Whispers

My love is like the evening star,
Sailing in twilight sky afar.
Drifting past the crescent moonlight
In velvet whispers of the night.

The constellations point the way,
Sirius beckons from the fray.
That star has five points, pinpoint bright,
In velvet whispers of the night.

Tangled up in guilty pleasures,
Show to me your hidden treasures.
Colliding deep with sweet delight
In velvet whispers of the night.

My love is like the evening star,
In velvet whispers of the night.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2021
April 2, 2021

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 3.14 Topic: What’s Your Pleasure
Hard Bonus (2 points): Quote Jack Benny (“That star has five points” from the Jack Benny show)
Easy Bonus (1 Point): Include a Phase of the Moon (crescent moon)

Secret Phrase Guesses:

Evening Star (in blog)
Outside my window
Lake House
Gone fishing
On Golden Pond
Bridge
Summer vacation
Secret fishing spot
Bridge over troubled water
Sitting on the dock of the bay

Topic: Tyler Pic: Christopher

Never What You See

Never What You See

Twilight comes early in November cold

the migrant geese cry and stake their claim

as I walk in my solitary world

where darkness rules and light is scarce

and loneliness adds beauty to life.

I have been restless for as long as I can remember

but there is change in the air

there is change in the wind

fear stirs the stagnant spirit, propels it forward

and the echo of music strikes a chord deep inside.

Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue,

and broken bones eventually heal

we cross the threshold from young to old

masking the hurt, numbing the pain

but silence is not golden.

So don’t jump to conclusions about the sunset

its stark light refracting beneath cover of clouds

hidden bruises bleeding broken indigo ink

in beautiful streaks of mottled red and purple

and taints the sky with mixed emotions.

The truth is never what you see.

November 10, 2015

Amethyst Sky

Rain has fallen five days straight.
The levee breaks, hope comes undone.
Tears from heaven flood the grass,
Sparkling like diamonds in the sun.

But it’s all right, I hear your voice
Whispering as twilight draws nigh.
Your smile beckons from distant stars
Twinkling in the amethyst sky.

Now westward winds stir restless,
whipping up the anger and wrath.
Flames shadow dancing in the dark,
the fire casts its light upon my path.

But it’s all right, I hear your voice
whispering as twilight draws nigh.
Your smile beckons from distant stars
twinkling in the amethyst sky.

I don’t want this pain anymore,
It’s been far too many years.
Give me shelter from the storm,
Ease my anguish, dry my tears.

But it’s all right, I hear your voice
whispering as twilight draws nigh.
Your smile beckons from distant stars
twinkling in the amethyst sky.